Dispensing package for interfolded sheet material



sept. H NELSON ENSI R INTERFOLDED SHEET MA u Q Ww Sept. 23, 1952 Y H NELSON 2,611,482

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR INTERFOLDED SHEET MATERIAL Filed Sept. 16. 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Sept. 23, 1952 @STATES PATENT OFFICE f i f m1122182 DISPENSING PACKAGE Foa INTERLFQLDED -2 SHEET MATERrA-L Howard. Nelson, Neenah,l Wis., assigner toV Inter'- eppiicationseptember 16, 195.0.A seriaiN..1s5,1-s2- rlhis iin/mentionVL relatestopackagingfor interfolded.I sheetmaterial'and-particularly to. the packaging ofA fairly large: interfolded sheets. Intenfoldedl sheet materiaisuch astoilet tissue, paper towels and: facial-tissue have long been available; in packagedafor-.tnr the packages usually having. aV baselengthY equally the width of the tissue sheets and a base width equally aboutv one-third or' vone-halfA the length of thesheets (depending on-thef'foldi of the sheets); thesheets being usuallyA foldedf either into: two approximately equal folds (which form may hereinafter be; referred. to.t as two-fold'material), or into threefolds; yWhi'chi form is 'often referred' to as Zafolded There: are: certain otherY forms of nterfolde df sheets'. in. Whiclr. the: sheets are folded otherwise: thanuabove-described but those described.` rniobablyv ty-pify the;- most. common form. of interfolded` sheet: packaging,

The; conventional; packages referred `to have heretofore been. provided with dispensing openings to: permity vwithdrawal1'of'` theinterfolded sheets one .by one. eaclf 'sheet withdrawn being operative-` to:- c'ausewithdr'awal'. of a portion .of another sheet: as; an incidentl to'the interfoldedA relationshipfof the sheets';=. 'y l For relatively.' small: sized' sheets? the.l described fermier-*packaging is duite satisfactorybutwhen the sheets: are of greaterY width, the packages made' 'the conventional manner becomeso long as to be objectionablexbecaus'e of the large table: or.' ys'lfielf areareqnired ffor" receiving vand supporting the; package. i

The main objects. of the .present inventionare to* provide; fr'interfoided sheet material of relatively' large; siam: dispensing: packaging having a relativelyfsmall base' area to permit the package toxbe supportedoiraimuch smallerishelf or within much smaller Stable.v area than conventionalV packages for the'v same 'size' ofinterfolded sheet materiali;` to; provide a .package of the character indicated; which'. can be v leasily .andi economically produced; andiir general it islth'e. object'- of the invention to provide animprove'd: dispensingI tion of the tissue stack lfor packaging a stack of twoefoldinterfolded tissue-sheets,

ls claims. (o1. `,aossil 2 lig. ll-is a. perspective View. illustrating a completed pack-age;

Fig. 5. is aperspecti've illustrating the package, of. Fig. 4. opened. forsheet dispensing purposes;

Figs. 6, 7. and 8 are.diagrannnatic-representations of the manner in. which sheetv dispensing progresses sheet. by sheetfroln the. improved.

packageo tWo-foldinterfolded sheets. A

Figs.. 9, 10 and. 11 are diagrammatic representations of the `manner in which. sheet dispausing progresses. sheet by sheet. from. a package` of Z-f'oldedl interfolded sheets Whenpre.

pared according to-thisinvention.

In Fig. v1 there. is schematically illustrated a incre or less` conventional;stack` of two-fold in terfolded sheet` material.. such as crepe. tissue paper, the stack being disposed. in an` on-edge position. As. shownthev stack comprises axflrst. l sheet A: comprising folds I` and 2 whichl are` joined atthe top edge of the. stackv as indicated at 3-; a second sheet Bhavingfolds and -joined atthebottom edge of thefstack as' indicated at 6,y the folds 4- and l'v-embracing4 the. fold 2l of the rst sheet; and as thirdf sheet@ having the. folds 'IY andl joined at the top edge.' of the stack as indicatedat 9,. the fold Ii lyingface-to-face with thefold 2. and also being embraced' between .the

folds A' and 5 of, the secondv sheet. Additional sheets are assembled in .the interfolded manner indicated to providethe number of sheets'desired in the stack.

v To=prepare thisstack ofinterfolded'. tissues for packaging according to the4 present invention,. thevrst. fold I loff the.' rstisheet. (at either-face. of the pack-', 'is' unfolded to an-upwardly exftended position as indicated iny Fig. 2, thereby exposing thev fold 4 but. leavingvthe': iirst` sheet fold 2f in placelwith `the fold'l between the folds l and 5 of thesecondl sheet. From the condition illustrated in. Fig; 2v the stack isinext'folded endwi'seV on itself, i. e., itis doubled upon itself` terial such asV represented in'Fig; 3 may be eri-A closedfin' a suitable paperboard. container I2 such as represented4v in` Figs. 4 andl 5'. This container has a top and bottom or base area suitable to receive the length and width of the top and bottom ends of the folded stack of tissues and the container may advantageously be of such size that the folded stack of sheets will initially be held fairly tightly doubled on itself. However, excess pressure should be avoided in that it may tend to resist withdrawal of the sheets and cause tearing thereof when withdrawal is attempted.

'I'he top wall I3 of the container may be provided with a suitable dispensing opening I4 which may be preformed or which may be provided for in the form of suitable cut-scoring in the top wall along predetermined lines such as indicated at I5 to denne a displaceable ear or flap which will leave the required opening I4. This displaceable ear or flap I6 may remain hingedly connected as at I'I' to the top wall for which purpose the top wall is creased along the line II ratherthan cut-scored. The opening I4 should be formed in such proportions that it will leave a surrounding portion of the top wall I3 overlying the upper end of the doubled stack of tissues around the extended leader portion I when withdrawn through the opening, thereby to prevent the stack from being pulled out of the receptacle as an incident to the withdrawal of a single sheet, especially when the number of sheets remaining in the stack is small and the stack reduced to a very light weight.

If the leader portion I of the first sheet is pulled out of the opening I4 and then grasped and pulled upwardly from the pack in the container, frictional engagement existing between the other fold 2 of the first sheet and the folds 4 and 'I on opposite sides of said fold 2 will cause said folds 4 and I to follow said fold 2 as it is pulled upwardly approximately as represented in Figs. 6 and 7. When the first sheet embodying the folds I and 2 is completely withdrawn, the second sheet B embodying the folds 4 and 5 will be in an unfolded extended position projecting out of the then upwardly projecting fold I of the third sheet C, the other fold 8 of said third sheet remaining in place in the interfolded stack. The sheet B embodying the folds 4 and 5 may of course be readily withdrawn from the supporting fold 'I (see Fig. 8) without applying any withdrawing force to the fold 1 since the latter is not confined under any significant pressure against the enclosed fold 5 of the second sheet. When the second sheet embodying the folds 4 and 5 is removed, the remaining upstanding fold 'I will be in exactly the same relationship to the remainder of the interfolded stack as was the first sheet embodying the folds I and 2 as shown in Fig. 6. From an inspection ofFigs. 6, 7 and 8 and the foregoing explanation, it will be seen that alternate withdrawals from the interfolded stack will start with a projecting sheet portion or leader as represented in Fig. 6 and that the intermediate withdrawals will be of a relatively loosely or freely supported sheet as represented by the sheet A in Fig. 8.

The described arrangement for withdrawing sheets is particularly adapted to the dispensing of fairly rough surfaced sheets which have a considerable amount of face-to-face frictional engagement with one another. Smoother sheets. such as typified by the better grades of soft, smooth facial tissues will be less effectively dispensed by the described arrangement owing to the relatively small amount of friction existing between the sheets, especially when the amount of material left in a package becomes small so that the compression of the sheets within the package is greatly reduced.

In one practical embodiment of a package of two-fold interfolded industrial wiping tissue (a fairly coarse heavily creped tissue), the sheets measure approximately fifteen inches wide and eleven and one-half inches long and the horizontal or base dimensions of the package are approximately eight inches by four inches as compared with a package size of about six by fifteen and one-half for prior conventional forms of package for the said size of sheet. Hence, it will be seen that the improved package construction will occupy approximately one-third of the area of the prior conventional forms of packaging. The height of the improved package is of course increased considerably over the height of the conventional packages, the new packages being in vthis instance approximately six and onehalf inches high as compared with a depth or height of around two or two and one-half inches for prior conventional packages containing the same number of sheets. This height of the improved packages is far less objectionable than the large base dimensions of the conventional packages so that the herein described construction represents a very desirable and definite improvement over the prior conventional packaging.

In some instances the described dispensing arrangement may be reversed to cause dispensing to take place from the outside of the package rather than from the center thereof. This is of course quite possible as Will be readily apparent from an inspection of Figs. 6, 7 and 8 but for most purposes it is preferred that dispensing take place from the center of the package. In that arrangement the outermost sheets in the package serve to protect the main bulk of the package so that in the event that the outermost sheet or sheets become soiled or spotted (for example, by grease or oil when the packages are used around a machine shop or work bench), only thc original outer sheets will be damaged.

In Figs. 9, 10 and 11v there is illustrated the dispensing action when the invention is applied to interfolded Z-folded sheets. As shown in Fig. 9, one of the threefolds of the central sheet D has one fold or lead portion I8 extended from the top of the pack, the other two folds being indicated at I9 and 20. A second sheet E has a first fold 2I located between the folds I 9 and 20 of the sheet D and second and third folds 22 and 23, respectively. A'third sheet F has a first fold 24 located between the folds 22 and 23 of the second sheet E. When the first sheet D is pulled upwardly from the pack, the fold 2| of the second sheet E will be incidentally pulled upwardly to the extended position (shown in Fig. 10) which was previously occupied by the fold I8 of the first sheet D. Withdrawal of the sheet E will similarly effect pulling out of the lead or rst fold portion 24 of the sheet F. Hence, it will be seen that invention is readily applicable to interfolded Z-folded sheets.

The Z-folded pack represented schematically in Figs. 9 to ll inclusive should, of course, be enclosed in a suitable container of the character described above.

Various other modifications and changes may be made in the form of the pack and the container while constructing a package employing the main principles of the invention as above described.

I claim:

1y A dispensing package of sheet materiau comprising a stack of interfolded sheets, said stack being doubled on itself about an axis paralleling the planes of the folds of the sheets and extending transversely of the fold formed edges thereof, a fold of one of said sheets at a face of the stack being in extended relation to the stack and doubled on itself in conformation with the doubling of the stack as aforesaid, and a container for said stack having a wall portion overlying a side of the folded stack formed by the fold-formed edges of the sheets, said wall portion being provided with a dispensing opening through which said extended fold is readily accessible for facilitating withdrawal of said face sheet from the container substantially as described.

2. A dispensing package of sheet material comprising a stack of interfolded sheets, said stack being doubled on itself about an axis paralleling the planes of the folds of the sheets and extending transversely of the fold-formed edges thereof, a fold of one of said sheets at a face of the stack being in extended relation to the stack and doubled on itself in conformation with the doubling of the stack as aforesaid, and a container for said stack having a displaceable wall portion overlying a side of the folded stack formed by the fold-formed edges of the sheets, said displaceable portion serving upon displacement from the container, to provide a dispensing opening through which said interfolded sheets are withdrawable one by one by movement in a direction substantially normal to the plane of said side of the folded stack substantially as described.

3. A dispensing package of sheet material comprising a stack of interfolded sheets doubled on itself about an axis paralleling the planes of the folds of the sheets and extending transversely of the fold-formed edges thereof, a fold of one of said sheets at a face of the stack being in extended relation to the stack and doubled on itself in conformation with the doubling of the stack as aforesaid, and a container for said stack having a displaceable wall portion overlying a side of the folded stack formed by the fold-formed edges of the sheets, said displaceable portion serving, upon displacement from the container, to provide a dispensing opening therein, said extended fold being initially collapsed on the surface of said side of the pack so as to underlie said displaceable wall portion, whereby said collapsed portion is readily accessible through the dispensing opening provided by displacement of said wall portion, thereby to facilitate withdrawal of said face sheet from the package.

HOWARD NELSON.

REFERENCES CTED The following references are of record in the file of thish patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Harwood July 6, 1943 

